What to use for flow free-like game random level creation?

Question

I need some advice. I\'m developing a game similar to Flow Free wherein the gameboard is composed of a grid and colored dots, and the user has to connect the same colored do

Answer 1

You have two choices:

1. Write a custom solver
2. Brute force it.

I used option (2) to generate Boggle type boards and it is VERY successful. If you go with Option (2), this is how you do it:

Tools needed:

• Write a A* solver.
• Write a random board creator

To solve:

1. Generate a random board consisting of only endpoints
2. while board is not solved:
   • get two endpoints closest to each other that are not yet solved
   • run A* to generate path
   • update board so next A* knows new board layout with new path marked as un-traversable.
3. At exit of loop, check success/fail (is whole board used/etc) and run again if needed

The A* on a 10x10 should run in hundredths of a second. You can probably solve 1k+ boards/second. So a 10 second run should get you several 'usable' boards.

Bonus points:

• When generating levels for a IAP (in app purchase) level pack, remember to check for mirrors/rotations/reflections/etc so you don't have one board a copy of another (which is just lame).
• Come up with a metric that will figure out if two boards are 'similar' and if so, ditch one of them.